Automobiles

The anticipations for this year's National Automobile Show (in Manhattan) were, a week or so ago, for a very usual exhibit. Barring minor gossip concerning changes in models and the likelihood of future prices, there was no news. Then suddenly a leading make of quality cars announced price reductions on closed cars ranging from $640 to $840 which would bring the prices of these models down to a level with those for open vehicles. Another make of quality cars adopted a similar policy.

The result has been to put car exhibitors in an unhappy frame of mind. They have for years had only to demonstrate the superior quality of their product to sell it. Now they are expected to have a quality product and to sell it cheap. The business, after being a runaway affair, has now become grimly competitive. Big sales mean quantity output, lower costs and a chance for a profit. Small sales mean high unit costs and either no profit or a loss in operation. For small craft, the water is getting rather rough.

A second lesson derived from this latest explosion in the automobile world is the growing demand for closed cars and the effort of manufacturers to get them into quantity production. If this can be done, unit costs in a closed car can be kept even with an open model, despite the greater material and workmanship called for by the former. Enthusiasts now prophesy that in a few years open cars will be built only on special order--as closed cars were when the motor industry first started.